What Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is According to the Developers

“Uncharted 4 is the culmination of everything we’ve learned in the Uncharted series from all of the games before. We set out to create what we think is the version of Uncharted we’ve always wanted to do,” said Naughty Dog’s Arne Meyer in a new video talking about the upcoming release of the game.

Bigger and better is something all developers attempt to achieve in their follow-up games. Especially, subsequent installments in an established franchise. For Naughty Dog and Uncharted 4, it was the first time the developers could sit down and see what they could do with the power of the PlayStation 4.

“We get to push that hardware,” says Ricky Cambier. And it clearly shows. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is a visual showcase for console games. I can’t think of any game that even comes close to the visual fidelity on display in Nathan Drake’s final adventure.

But Uncharted 4 is much more than a graphical treat. In the video above, the developers talk about how they and the franchise have evolved since the first game. And that evolution is across the entire game. From the story to gameplay mechanics.

What’s the story there? We can assume Nathan’s path to becoming a treasure hunter was influenced by his older brother in some way. We’ll see how much Naughty Dog expands on this next month.

One of the biggest changes for me in Uncharted 4 is just how big some of the environments are. And with the larger play spaces come new tools. The grappling hook is the latest addition to Nathan’s bag of toys.

“As soon as we introduced that [grappling hook] we just start loving it. The way you can use it in combat. The way you can use it to traverse and solve puzzles. It just gives you this new tool that’s just a lot of fun,” said Cambier.

Uncharted 4 story DLC

One of the developers mentioned story DLC for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End in passing in the video.

In an interview with the Toronto Sun earlier this month, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann said the DLC will likely be similar to Left Behind from The Last of Us. Part of that DLC was a flashback.

“There are some loose ideas we’re playing with,” Druckmann told the Toronto Sun. He went on to say the ending of Uncharted 4 “is very conclusive, and we don’t want to play with that too much.”

Damn that doesn’t sound good for Nathan. Or maybe someone close to him dies and makes him leave the treasure hunting life behind for good. Man, I don’t want to see any of the characters die. Uncharted 4 is setting up to be a bittersweet ending to the franchise.

The one must watch Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End video

Haven’t been following Uncharted 4? There’s only one video you need to watch. Check out 16 minutes of Madagascar below. It perfectly encapsulates all the new additions to Uncharted 4. From the more open-ended design to the grappling hook.

I’m going to watch it again and wish May 10th was here already.

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